The Seward County Board of Commissioners on Sept. 10 finalized a 2024-2025 budget that requires 7% less in property tax requests,
County departments were asked to avoid any increases in tax funding, and Commission Chair Misty Ahmic said the budget work achieved their goal of maintaining or lowering the taxes requested.
“It’s not just me, but all five of us, and not just all five of us, but our officials, too,” Ahmic said of the budget work.
The amount of property tax revenue that supports the county’s general fund and debt services will decrease from $10,549,339 in 2023-2024 to $10,322,427 in 2024-2025, a drop of 2%.
In the same time frame, the county’s total property valuations grew from $3.6 million in 2023-2024 to more than $3.7 million in 2024-2025, an increase of just over 5%.
The general fund budget will increase from $13,136,138 in 2023-2024 to $14,408,682 in the new fiscal year, an increase of about 9.7%. That fund is the single largest category of expense in the county budget.
The debt service budget line is relatively constant, but due to the way debt payment schedules fell on the calendar last year, appears to grow from $933,637 paid toward the debt related to the Seward County Justice Center to $1,262,354 in the new fiscal year. This is closer to the $1,211,272 budgeted for 2022-2023.
Seward County Clerk Sherry Schweitzer said the county holds two debts on the corrections /court facility finished in 2017 for around $20.5 million. The county owes $5.8 million on the original bond for the jail, and $800,000 in interest toward funds financed with local banks. Both have payoff scheduled in 2033.
Refinancing to lower the interest rate from 3% to 2.2 or 2.3% shaved about one year off the county’s payments, Schweitzer said.
The actual budget for county departments reflects potential expenditures up to 69% higher than the 2023 -2024 fiscal year, moving from $27.6 million in 2023-2024 to $46.6 million in 2024-2025.
They are potential expenditures because many depend upon service fees, like building permits or jail reimbursements, and state, federal and private grants. Under the standard accounting process for government entities, the county cannot receive a grant and spend the revenue unless the budget includes both a revenue and expense line for it.
So if a department is applying for a grant, some amount is included in the budget to allow application of a potential deposit against that anticipated revenue and an expenditure against its balance.
Ahmic said the county saw and still anticipates increases in things like the cost of meals and medical services at the jail, the purchase of gravel and culvert supplies for the highway department and other similar expenses.
“We just don’t really have control of those things,” Ahmic said.
County salaries are to increase by 3%.
One of the areas where budget cuts will be seen was the deletion of paid internships in varied county offices. Ahmic said some of these positions had never been filled, while others will leave gaps that need to be addressed.
County leaders are hopeful students who are required to complete volunteer service hours will be able to fit their skills and interests with the county’s needs.
The county attorney’s office will continue to pay an intern through a state program, she said.
Still, Ahmic also sees some expanded or new programs coming up, including broadening of services in the Aging Services office with additional services for communities without a senior center.
She also anticipates new travel opportunities from the public transit office, and the ability to certify hay that is to be taken into state parks by the weed office, which also involves a potential increase in fees received.
